Chapter 17 – Bringing the baby
Translator: Xena
Proofreader: Wint8
“Yinian.” Chen Xiangsui quietly walked out from the shadows of the tree canopy and approached Cheng Yinian. “Did someone send you flowers?”
Cheng Yinian couldn’t help but panic and subconsciously wanted to hide the flowers, but in an instant he realized that this action was meaningless. “Ah… Yeah.”
Unexpectedly, Chen Xiangsui did not ask any more questions. “Let’s go back.” After saying that, he took out the car keys from his pocket and opened the passenger door for Cheng Yinian.
Chen Xiangsui did not drive directly back to school, but stopped in front of a small store along the street. He got out of the car and went into the store. After a while, he returned with a plain white vase and placed it in Cheng Yinian’s hand. “I’m not sure if you’ll like it. If it doesn’t suit your taste, I can buy another one.”
“This is great.” Cheng Yinian never thought Chen Xiangsui would be so thoughtful. The soft spot in his heart was touched. He raised his eyes to meet Chen Xiangsui’s gaze and said, “I’m… happy.”
“As long as you like it.” Chen Xiangsui smiled. After returning to the dormitory, he and Cheng Yinian put the roses into the vase one by one, and finally placed them on the corner of the table. “It looks very nice.”
Cheng Yinian’s gaze moved up and landed on Chen Xiangsui’s face. “…Mn.”
When he returned to bed, he opened the chatbox with Age and sent a message: [I got the roses Gege sent me, I’m really happy]
Chen Xiangsui: [That’s good. I was worried at first that you wouldn’t like it.]
Cheng Yinian: [How could that be? I won’t dislike anything Gege gives me~]
Chen Xiangsui: [I also like what you give me.]
Cheng Yinian: [Come to think of it, Gege has been giving me gifts lately, so I should pick a gift for you too~]
Chen Xiangsui: [It’s fine. Didn’t you send me a lot of photos? I like those very much.]
Cheng Yinian: [O///O if Gege wants to see them, then I’ll send them to you of course]
[I like Gege.]
Chen Xiangsui: [Hmm, I like you.]
Cheng Yinian took a screenshot of this short conversation and saved it. Before he could type his next reply, he saw a message flashing on top of the screen. A streamer friend sent him a message: [I just saw this post online. It’s quite interesting. Take a look.]
Cheng Yinian couldn’t resist his curiosity and clicked on it, only to find out that it was actually a fan fiction between him and Age. He remembered that the last time he played Maid Café, there was a comment saying they were imagining a 10,000-word novel, and now the story was actually really here.
He started reading the first line. The story began with a live stream. Age somehow missed Nian Gao’s live stream that day, and Nian Gao happened to be playing the game Maid Cafe during the live stream. Age took the time to watch the live stream replay, and suddenly said that it would be nice if he could also see Nian Gao in maid outfit.
At first, Nian Gao was resistant to this, replying that the other didn’t even know his true gender and was worried that he would be disappointed because he didn’t dress well. Age said it didn’t matter, he would like to see it as long as it was Nian Gao, so Nian Gao reluctantly put on a maid outfit and took photos.
After seeing it, Age couldn’t help but compliment him for being cute. After that, the situation spiraled out of control. Nian Gao couldn’t refuse Age’s requests and ended up wearing more cute clothes and taking more photos to show him, earning countless compliments about how cute he was.
“What if I were a boy, would you still think I was cute?” Nian Gao hesitated for a while and asked this.
“Cuteness has nothing to do with that. As long as you’re you, I can accept everything.”
This led to the conversation between the two in the live stream room later on.
Streamer friend: [This kind of writing is interesting only when it’s out of touch with reality. How about it? Do you think it is interesting? ]
Out of touch with reality?
Cheng Yinian, on the other hand, wanted to ask which audience member had been peeping into his life.
He casually sent the fanfic to Chen Xiangsui, who replied: [Is this your diary? There’s a lot of content, quite rich as well.]
Cheng Yinian: …
Cheng Yinian: [It was written by a viewer of the live stream QUQ]
[Let’s not talk about this anymore~ Gege, are you free to play with me this weekend? There’s a small game that’s very popular recently. It looks like a game that tests hand speed~ But there’s no online mode, so we can’t play together QAQ]
Chen Xiangsui: [It’s okay, I can just watch you play. ]
[I’ll come on the weekend. Same time?]
……
Cheng Yinian gave an affirmative answer. Come Sunday, he waited for Chen Xiangsui to log in at the appointed time. The game he would be playing today was a popular web-based mini-game that many streamers have posted about. He had tried it himself in private and indeed found it quite addictive.
[Here it comes, here it comes, is Nian Gao finally bringing a baby?]
[I hope that Nian Gao helps me clear the game I can’t beat, please help me find the father of the child!]
[Eh, do you still need to look for him? @Age, big boss, someone’s calling you]
[I’m speechless. You’re spreading rumors about a CP here every day. Unless you can back it up, just shut up or I’ll report you]
The game began with a short plot introduction in which the protagonist picked up a baby at the door of a daycare center, but the child was crying and making a fuss and needed to be watched by the protagonist all the time. All the while, there were many naughty and noisy children in the daycare and the protagonist also needed to take good care of each child.
As a streamer who often played high-difficulty rhythm games, Cheng Yinian has very fast hand speed. He passed the early levels very smoothly. The later levels became more and more difficult, but he could still cope with it.
[I feel like you can see the clearance plot here]
[@Age, why are you just standing there? Can you come help with the kid?]
[After getting married, I take care of the child. The man just sits around doing nothing. What has marriage really brought me?]
Chen Xiangsui silently gave a wave of gifts to the live stream. Countless comments immediately flew across the room.
[Big boss is generous]
[Big Boss: This is just money for the kid’s living expenses]
[Hahaha, he’s anxious, he’s anxious]
Cheng Yinian cleared the last level and reached the ending of the game. Several years passed as the protagonist raised his child. Before he knew it, the little baby was old enough to start elementary school. He went alone to pick up his child from school, but found another man talking to the child.
The protagonist immediately rushed over to stop the man from doing anything to the child. However, the man claimed that he was the child’s father and had been looking for his son for several years.
[Nevermind anything else, my CP’s child is already in elementary school]
[It feels like an open ending, which is really heart gripping]
[@Big Boss, look at the consequences of you not helping to take care of the child. Nian Gao had to take care of the kid by himself, and now you come chasing after your wife and kid? ]
Chen Xiangsui posted a comment: [This game doesn’t have an online mode]
[The big boss replied so seriously, lmao]
[Nian Gao hahaha next time don’t give birth to a child for a blockheaded man]
Chen Xiangsui: [Nian Gao can’t give birth, and neither can I]
[Big Boss, how will you know if you don’t try?]
[That’s enough for now, above commenter]
[It’s true that carbon-based life forms cannot yet give birth to children via single network cable (serious)]
The atmosphere of the barrage was originally very lighthearted, but a few fake accounts suddenly appeared out of nowhere and began to distort public opinion: [Is no one curious whether Nian Gao is a boy or a girl?]
[Don’t think about it, Nian Gao is a robot]
[It’s just gender, why make it so mysterious? Even his sound is not turned on. Are you trying to attract traffic by doing this?]
[Lol he’s using this character for marketing? Who would be curious about this?]
There were also many people who spoke up in the comments while the moderators quickly banned the accounts that made the provocative comments. Soon, one of the moderators said: [The viewers who first came to this live broadcast room did not come because of what kind of person Nian Gao is. At least for me, I paid attention to him because of his attitude towards games and his mastery of it.]
[Big Boss is wise. I don’t understand where these small accounts are coming from. They must have nothing better to do.]
[Nevermind them, I came here to watch cool moves, especially seeing the smooth completion of the game. It really gave me an inexplicable sense of satisfaction…]
Cheng Yinian had no intention of taking this matter to heart. Right now, he was being criticized just for doing this. Imagine what would happen if he used his real voice for the live broadcast—after all, he had already been questioned a lot in real life.
He still remembered how he used to love playing with the neighbor’s kids when he was little, and how he could chat with anyone for hours. But as he grew up, he realized that his voice remained the same as when he was a child, so he gradually became quiet around strangers and made fewer and fewer friends.
Cheng Yinian sighed imperceptibly and ended the live stream in the evening. Chen Xiangsui quickly sent him a private message: [Don’t worry about what happened earlier, they just want to stir up trouble.]
[I will always stand by your side.]
Cheng Yinian: […Thank you]
It was impossible to say that Cheng Yinian wasn’t touched. He had so much he wanted to say, but in the end, all he could manage was a simple “thank you.”
Chen Xiangsui asked if he wanted to chat for a while and Cheng Yinian said no, he was a little tired today and wanted to rest early. Then, a recurring sentence appeared in the chat box again: [Good night, I like you.]
[I like you very much too, Gege, good night.]1They’re really saying “I like you”. It’s xihuan ni, I love you is wo ai ni. Maybe they’ll level up someday? O3O
……
Like last time, Cheng Yinian returned to the dormitory on Monday morning and Chen Xiangsui was busy with his own work at his usual spot. For some reason, he found that there were more meat buns on his desk today than usual. After thinking for a moment, he handed them to Chen Xiangsui. “It’s too many. You should eat some too, or they’ll get cold and won’t taste good.”
“They’re all yours. I bought them especially for you,” Chen Xiangsui said.
Cheng Yinian sighed imperceptibly and said that he couldn’t eat so much for breakfast. He then turned around and shared some with Lu Yan and Xu Zitang.
“Yinian.”
“Hm?” When Cheng Yinian heard Chen Xiangsui’s voice, he subconsciously turned around, only to see the other party reach out and stroke his head.
He couldn’t help but feel confused. “Why did you…”
“You’re not happy.” The look in Chen Xiangsui’s eyes when he gazed at him seemed to hide some unknown worry.
The next second after he finished speaking, he moved closer to Cheng Yinian, as if he wanted to bring him into his arms. Cheng Yinian was stunned for a moment and quickly took a few steps back. He curled his lips to reveal the dimple on his left cheek. “No, I’m in a good mood now.”
“You’re lying to me.”
